Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Texas Border Agents Say 5,500 Migrants A Day Are Illegally Entering US

When President Trump took office, he promised to end "catch and release." Migrants believed him as apprehensions in April 2017 fell to a record low of 15,798.

Since then, migrants learned the U.S. can do almost nothing to stop them. Apprehensions have since soared 582 percent to levels not seen in almost two decades – and almost double what President Obama in 2014 called a “crisis.”

“Why is it doubling? Because word's out on the street in Central America – if you bring a minor child with you to America, we can only hold a minor child for 20 days," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said this weekend. "Will we release everybody, including the adults that never show up for the hearing cases three years from now? It's also been found out in Central America. You ask for asylum. Nobody's trying not to get caught."

New Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan toured the border in South Texas on Saturday with Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan.

"We're not going to leave until the border is secure,” said Shanahan, who is trying to transfer $1.5 billion from numerous defense projects to secure the Southwest border.

In South Texas, border agents the last several days apprehended 229 migrants an hour, or 5,500 a day, forcing the agency to set up tents in parking lots and hiring jets at $16,000 a flight to send adults to nearby Del Rio just for processing.